Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.)Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) put the 1770 population of the Mattole at 500. Sherburne F. Cook (1976) estimated the combined populations of the Mattole, Whilkut, Nongatl, Sinkyone, Lassik, and Kato at 4,700, at least 50% higher than Kroeber's figure for the same groups. Martin A. Baumhoff (1958) estimated the aboriginal Mattole-Bear River population as 2,476.

The Mattole federal reservation, the Rohnerville Rancheria, located south of Eureka, reported a population of 29 in the 2000 census.